Dylan, you have a great trip and report going. I am still trying to figure out how you get Bruce on his feets so easily, but I guess practice makes perfect. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Doc!

To be honest, I have no idea how I do it. Know that the techniques they use by lifting the bike by keeping your back against the bike doesn't work. It works when it's not loaded up. I guess it's a mind thing. I have never ever doubted that I couldn't do it. I'm only 168cm small and weigh 65kg on a good day.
The mind is an amazing thing really!

my GPS tells me that I'm in N17.78028 W101.72307 & it's an awesom number :-) White sand, blue sea & beautiful surrounding. Camping on the beach again. Today I even had time to go for a swim. Heavy military presence on the way. I've been very lucky so far with police & army. They never checked me till now. Only a brief question or two before letting me go. Couple of times I was even fooling around with them. When they asked me "are you carrying drugs" in Spanish, I answer in English "only one packet" but I shake my head with No sign. Then the next question in spanish "are you carrying a gun" I answer "only a shot gun" with same shaking head as "no". They let me go and I laugh at my own joke.

I heard so many people say that the Mexican police is so corrupt. However, I have so far made very good experiences except once. That occasion was when a gangster/thief tried to get close to my backpack in Mexico city, I went to complain to the first cop I found who was only a couple of dozens meters away. But unfortunately I discovered that the policeman was covering up the bad guy. From my encounters, there are lot more good guys than the bad. You just have to behave and you'll be left alone!

I'm in a place called Tizupan and taking the first break of the day. This stretch is about 300km long, windy and slow going. When I inquired the police at three different places, they all said that the route is risky due to robbers and criminal activities. I was told to do as less stops as possible but it's proving to be difficult. The blue ocean and the white sand down below not only makes you stop, but it also stops your heart. But on the negative side, the temperature is rising by every kilometer. People don't seem to be friendly either. Since the villages scattered so far apart, that doesn't bother me at all. I should be in Lazaro Cardenas within the next 3 hours and you should hear from me by then. If not call the CIA, kGB, IRA and the whole lot. Don’t worry, everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not yet the end.

Bruce was stuck in deep sand yesterday and my efforts to get out of there were in vain and I knew toiling for long wouldn't do me or the bike any good. So I plotted my escape in a different style and enjoyed the evening resting. I could have also asked people to help me but I didn't. When I encounter these kind of problems, I want to solve it by myself. Because, problem solving keeps your mind healthy and I stay exercised to deal with similar situation when I'm alone.
My idea was to wake up in the early morning and use the morning dew as an aid. Well, it worked! When the sand is wet the beach becomes compact and relatively hard and I rode the bike out of the danger zone with a minimum effort.
Remember, when you're in trouble, keep your head cool and think right! It'll help you in most situations and you'll be able to help yourself which will make you proud of what you are!

The ride to Oaxaca was fantastically curvy and slow. On the previous night before I shot this picture, I was attempting to ride through the night. But I stopped and camped in a football ground at the edge of a village about an hour after passing Ometapec. Hindsight, I’m glad that I made that decision. The next day, just below ten thousand curves later I took the bend, which you see in the first photo, at about 60kmh. Only after entering the bridge I realized that it’s a deathtrap. There is no way a man can handle a motorcycle on metal pipes this big, without falling. And the inevitable happened but I managed to bring the speed down considerably before falling down. Had I been riding in poor light or in the night, I wouldn’t have had a chance of escaping this without injury. I was lucky again!

After another beautiful beach camping I'm moving southbound. In Zihuatanejo, a relatively busy city, two guys run out of a shop with pistols in their hands & get in a waiting car and speed away wheels spinning and with blue smoke. A few hundred yards later an old lady crying beside the road. Her dog's been run over. Then withing minutes, a guy lost his corrugated iron sheets on the road from the back of his pick-up truck and he's collecting them. Then he realizes that his truck rolling down the hill and runs after it like Usain Botlz, get's into the truck through the window and stops a tragedy with his legs sticking out.
I just started my day and wonder what kind of excitement waiting for me in which corner.
Welcome to Mexico! I just love it!

I opened up the facebook and read the latest. The sun is out and there is the blue sky. The music in the radio plays songs of happiness and rhythms to dance to. Then I read in the facebook status window asking me a question: How are you feeling Dylan?
Do you really want to know? It has become one of the saddest days of my life and I'm not going to talk about it.
Wish everyone a beautiful day! Now I gotta lot of riding to do today!

Evening of 8th January

Made it only to Huatulco today though I planned to get much further than that. But things are getting better & the people I meet make a big difference. I managed to find a proper camping spot right on the beach with all the facilities. My neighbours for tonight are a large family (16 of them) from the capital, Mexico City. They were very nice to me from the moment I got there. May be a bit too nice! I wanted to have a good rest tonight, but they dragged me into the city in a van to enjoy the evening. I made enough excuses but they didn't take "NO" for an answer. Now I'm drinking Tequila, and listening to them karaoke singing loud and grossly out of tune. But it's a happy maker. It’s just what I need right now. I wonder how far I'll get tomorrow?

When girls sang, at least there was something to look at. But the men made dogs howl.

Having the first break and it's Tacos for breakfast. The evening I spent with the Mexican family was fun. But when it reached 1a.m. I was not in a good mood to listen to their awefull kareoke singing. Even the Tequila didn't help numb my ears and it was torture. The few hours I slept was golden. Though I could have slept for a few more hours, I didn't quite feel comfortable in the tent as the the morning sun made it to a baking oven. I needed to go anyway. This time, I'm going to skip San Cristobal even if everyone was urging me to go there. I'm heading directly to Guatemala. Yesterday I was sad enough because of one issue. But my sadness was upgraded to a higher level when I checked my bank account. There is no way I could bring this tour to an end without me having to go back to work. So I am compelled to rush down through Central America so that at least I can bring my boat adventure to an end.

Don't think I'm on a suicidal mission here. But I'm attempting to sail the Caribbean sea with Bruce on a self-made pontoon boat. I want to cross over from Panama to Columbia this way. Why? Because there is no road connecting these two countries and I don't want a piggy-back ride on another boat like all other people do. The ride will be about 350km and you'll be sailing in deep sea. I'm excited and I'll be content if I had to quit my journey after that adventure, for a little while, till I earn enough money to continue.

Did I say that I’m skipping San Cristobal today? Well, that was my intention anyway. But when I reached the place where the road split, one going towards Guatemala and the other going to San Cristobal, I gave it a second thought, paused for a few minutes and did some calculations. The difference skipping San Cristobal would have been only around 200km. That’s a small enough number, if that city comes under “must be seen” category. But I wasn’t convinced. So I did it for the second time on this tour, tossing a coin to decide my route. Last time when I did such thing, I was in Uganda. At that time it was a decision between Kenya or Tanzania and Kenya won.
This time the coin fell in favour of San Cristobal. Within minutes after taking the road to San Cristobal, I knew that it was the right choice. That choice wasn’t so much because of the landscape, it was because the road into interior led over the hills and mountains thus the temperature become not only bearable, it was simply great! The quality of riding also became ever more interesting than the straight costal roads.

About 50km before San Cristobal I met another biker at a traffic light in the fair size city called Tuxtla Gutierrez. He too was riding to San Cristobal and he had just returned to Mexico from a trip to South America now on his way home to Mexico City. His name is Guillermo. Psychiatrist by profession, he is a very outgoing and a friendly man. We hit it off straight away. When we reached San Cristobal he took me out for a beer and dinner before doing some sightseeing. While we were enjoying a chit chat in a nice cozy restaurant, there stood a man next to us and inquired whose motorcycle it was with the Swiss number plate. Of course he was a motorcycle enthusiast and not only that, he was the owner of a beautiful hostel in the city where we happened to be. After a standard set of questions and a couple of beers, he was offered us a nice room and safe parking for our bikes. For free of course! I’m happy to be in a warm bed after a nice hot shower.
It is worth tossing a coin from time to time!